1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method and system for distributed processing management and finds particular application in information management.
2. Related Art
It is known to use software agent systems (where an agent comprises software code and usually at least local data which together provide an entity which is to some extent autonomous and proactive) for the manipulation and provision of information to users. These software agent systems are one means of implementing decentralised computational processes.
There also exist software technologies for distributed computing, such as the Common Object Request Brokerage Architecture (CORBA) that can provide functionality for distributed computing similar to some of that provided by software agent systems.
In the construction of such software systems a contrast can be drawn between centralised and decentralised approaches to the design and operation of the software. Centralised approaches have the advantage that the software may be better understood in advance of execution, and that the flow of control is in principle clear. But they may also have the disadvantage that the design is inflexible if the requirements or use of the software changes between initial design and implementation. Hence there is an interest in more decentralised systems that start with simple components and combine them to produce more complex systems. Decentralised approaches have the advantage that individual components can be well understood, and can be moved around if requirements for the system change. The disadvantage is that control in the system may be less predictable.
Because the development of particular software agent systems from scratch for each application could lead to a lot of duplication of software, a number of software agent toolkits have been developed that provide the means of constructing a variety of different software agent systems from one set of tools. While existing software agent toolkits, and other software technologies, do to some extent implement decentralised computing systems, they do suffer from problems of:                Robustness [i.e. how to ensure that the system performs to the required standard despite changes to its software environment that may be disruptive to agent function.]        Scalability [i.e. how to ensure that what works with relatively few agents in a test application works as well with many agents in a real-world application.]        
Robustness and scalability have been addressed in a number of ways in existing software agent systems, with varying degrees of success. These are important issues to address if such software technologies are to provide solutions to industrially or commercially significant application problems.